decision making task assignment

Module 5: Decision Making

Assignment: your decision-making process, preparation.

The Decision Making module of your text provided numerous decision tools and methods to use during the decision process. In this assignment, you will draw upon your personal decision-making experience. As you learned in the module, people make decisions with our biases and preferred styles in play. You will describe your decision, what choices were involved, how you made your decision, and what the outcome was, relating your process to the rational decision-making process described in the text. The following steps will help you prepare for your written assignment:

• Thoroughly read the Decision Making module.
• Carefully consider the tools and methods described in the reading to assist with Management Decision Making.
• Think of a decision you have made or been involved in making. This could be a personal decision or a work-related decision.
• Outline your decision process as it relates to the six steps of the rational decision-making process described in the text:

Step 1. Identify the Problem

Step 2. Establish Decision Criteria

Step 3. Weigh Decision Criteria

Step 4. Generate Alternatives

Step 5. Evaluate Alternatives

Step 6. Select the Best Alternative

For example, if you’re writing about your decision to adopt a pet, the problem you identify in Step 1 might be that you were lonely in your apartment at night, and you’d always wanted to rescue a dog. In Step 2, you could describe the decision criteria you used to select a dog: your apartment only allows dogs under 25 pounds, you wanted a dog with short hair for easier cleanup, you would only travel to a rescue facility within 50 miles of your house, and so on. If you skipped any of the steps above, note that.  Include this outline in your written assignment submission.

• What is your preferred decision-making style?
• How does your style work for you? Are you always satisfied with your decisions?
• What method from the text would you consider for your future decision making?
• How important is decision making in the role of a business leader? Provide an example.

In addition to the text, you are encouraged to research decision-making methods using reliable and properly cited Internet resources. You may also draw from your personal experience with appropriate examples to support your references.

Your written assignment will be graded using the Written Assignment Rubric . Please review and keep it in mind as you prepare your assignment. Each component is weighted as follows:

10% Organization and Format

Adequate: Writing is coherent and logically organized, using a format suitable for the material presented. Transitions used between ideas and paragraphs create coherence. Overall unity of ideas is supported by the format and organization of the material presented.

40% Content

Adequate: All required questions are addressed with thoughtful consideration reflecting both proper use of content terminology and additional original thought. Some additional concepts are presented from properly cited sources, or originated by the author following logic and reasoning they’ve clearly presented throughout the writing.

40% Development – Critical Thinking

Adequate: Content indicates original thinking, cohesive conclusions, and developed ideas with sufficient and firm evidence. Ideas presented are not merely the opinion of the writer, and clearly address all of the questions or requirements asked with evidence presented to support conclusions drawn.

10% Grammar, Mechanics, Style

Adequate: Writing is free of spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors, allowing the reader to follow ideas clearly. There are no sentence fragments and run-ons. The style of writing, tone, and use of rhetorical devices is presented in a cohesive style that enhances the content of the message.

• Assignment: Your Decision-Making Process. Authored by : Betty Fitte and Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

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4 th Short Assignment Decision Making The assignment has two parts....

4 th Short Assignment

Decision Making

The assignment has two parts. Part A is about five scenarios that might happen in your future professional career. For each scenario, five potential solutions are given.  Part B is a short article by Erin Meyer with related questions.

Based on: "The Mindful International Manager" by Jeremy Comfort and Peter Franklin, 2 nd edition, 2014, 

In a particular situation, our actions are not only influenced by our personality, individual qualities, and cultural preferences but always also, at least partly, by the unique nature of the situation we are in.  Every day managers face both familiar and new situations.  For example, a familiar situation could be a customer who has not paid on time; a new situation could be a bank withdrawing credit from the company. An essential skill is knowing how to deal with these situations.  International managers face similar situations, but these are made more complex because of the global context. 

The particular nature of the situation we are in may influence our actions more than cultural and individual preferences.  We need to use our analytical abilities and our experience of different situations to decide on the best action or way to behave.  Our understanding of these three influences leads to the development of skills - more appropriate communication, more appropriate decision-making, more effective relationship-building and more effectiveness generally when working internationally.

Five more scenarios are below for you to decide on the best action.  There is never a clear right or wrong answer, although certainly, some decisions are better than others.  For each scenario, five potential actions are proposed.

• Please choose one of the actions for each scenario that you think suits the situation best but is also the one which goes well with your personality.
• In case non of the proposed actions for each scenario is acceptable to you, offer an alternative solution for each scenario.
• Please justify your answers

Scenario 1       Poor performance

You have recently been promoted to team leader.  You have five colleagues reporting to you.  Four have welcomed you and so far continued to perform at a high level.  The fifth colleague, Douglas, has been problematic from the start.  He does the minimum in his job and has not implemented the new IT system, as everybody else in the company has done.  He is an intelligent man, but he seems bitter and uninvolved.  You find yourself taking on some of his tasks, and you notice that the other team members consider it unfair that he gets away with doing very little work.  You have spoken to your predecessor, who never confronted the issue, saying: 'Doug is untouchable - he is disabled, and he also sits on the works council.  You will have to live with him.'

• Meet him individually and set him some clear targets for improved performance and then, if he does not achieve them, give him a formal warning of a proposed dismissal
• Organize a team meeting in which the whole team commits to annual objectives and tasks, including Doug and then wait to see if he fulfils his tasks
• Talk to your boss about Doug and agree on a joint strategy for dealing with his poor performance
• Follow the advice of your predecessor and do nothing
• Talk to your HR department about the legal requirements for dealing with poor performance and then follow them strictly

Scenario 2       A rude boss

You have been sent on a two-year foreign assignment to your company's subsidiary in China.  You have been assigned to the production department, where the manager is an experienced local called Liu Song.  Your job is to advise on implementing new processes in the Chinese plant.  After a month, you are feeling more and more uncomfortable.  Liu seems to treat his staff roughly - shouting at them and criticizing them.  You are not sure if he does this just in front of you to impress you.  You feel the whole department is in fear of him.  The results are outstanding, and he takes all your advice on the new processes.  However, you think his leadership style is very far from the expected behaviour of other bosses in the company.

• Wait some more weeks to observe and reflect on how he is working
• Talk to other colleagues in the department to see what they think. This will be difficult as they are all Chinese, and only a few speak English
• Talk to your boss back in the head office about the behaviour and ask for his advice
• Talk to Liu and ask him why he seems so upset with his workers
• Accept the behaviour as different and how things are done locally

Scenario 3       Corruption

You are working in the sales department of an international company.  You look after customers in Eastern Europe and Russia.  Business is callous in the well-established markets in Western Europe but is growing rapidly in your area, and you have just been given a big bonus for exceeding your sales targets.  You inherited one large key account from your predecessor - a retail chain that operates across the region.  This is your reference customer and has undoubtedly led to you getting a lot of new business.  The purchasing manager, Igor, whom you deal with, is usually amiable, but the last time you met him, he seemed a bit cold.

You asked a colleague about this, and he said that your predecessor used to invite Igor and his family to join them on a winter skiing holiday.  It was never obvious who paid, but your colleague suspects your predecessor used to finance much of it through expenses.  This type of hospitality is against the code of ethics of your company, but there is usually some flexibility in the interpretation of the code.

• Explain to Igor that there are strict ethical guidelines and so you can no longer invite him and his family
• Ask Igor to join your company's annual skiing trip for employees but make it clear that he will have to pay
• Take Igor out to lunch and offer him better price incentives but don't mention the skiing holiday
• Talk to the director in charge of sales and ask for his advice on how to deal with this situation
• Do nothing but continue to provide good products at good prices

Scenario 4       Divided loyalties

You're the key-account manager in an international cosmetics company.  You look after a significant customer with branches across the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) region.  You have had a long, professional relationship with the cosmetics buyer in this company, Helga Ebke.  Your range of products has been doing very well in the Middle East, particularly in their Dubai store.  On a recent trip, you met with the store manager, Ahmed Malami.  He confided in you that he was about to leave the group and become a director of the region's largest luxury goods chain.  He offered you an exclusive deal whereby they become the sole promoters and sellers of your cosmetic range across the region.

• Inform Helga of the approach you have had from Ahmed?
• Inform Helga of the threat posed to your businesses by this regional luxury-goods chain without telling her about the plans Ahmed has
• Continue to focus on your business and relationship with Helga without mentioning any developments in Dubai
• Hint that Helga needs to talk to Ahmed about his plans
• Call Ahmed and tell him to tell Helga about his plans before you do

Scenario 5       Close relationships

You are a man and have been sent to work on a project in Central America.  You will be based in Mexico for about a year.  Your objective is to establish a new SAP-based database system in all the sales offices of the region.  Your team is international, but you have two local project members: one of them, Martine, is Mexican and a very successful brand manager.  You respect her work but find her very personal in how she relates to you.  She tends to share her personal problems as much as the professional, telling you about difficulties she has at home and with one or two colleagues in the team.  At first, you appreciated her emotional honesty, but now you feel it negatively influences her judgement.  She got upset and even cried in your office recently when she told you about her mother's illness.  You would like to get the relationship back on a more professional basis.

• Ask her colleague, the other local project member, to talk to her and explain that she can't continue getting so emotionally upset at work
• Talk to Martine yourself and explain that she needs to separate her private and professional life in future  
• Talk to the whole team about the need to focus on key deliverables and not be distracted over the next few months
• Accept that Martine is an emotional person and needs to have the opportunity to express herself sometimes
• Accept Martine's behaviour for this project but determine never to let yourself get so close to a colleague in future

Avoiding Culture Clashes When Making Decisions

INSEAD Knowledge / By Erin Meyer

https://erinmeyer.com/avoiding-culture-clashes-when-making-decisions/

• Please read the article carefully.
• Please choose four key messages that you think could be helpful for you when working in a multicultural team and global management or leadership roles.

When I first moved to Europe, my new Swedish boss, Per Engman, introduced himself as a typical consensus-building manager. Conscious of my American roots, he explained that this was the best way to ensure everyone was on board, and he hoped that I would be patient with this very Swedish process.

I was initially delighted with the prospect of working with an inclusive boss who listened carefully to his staff and weighed everyone's views before making a decision. But after my first few weeks, the emails had started mounting up. One morning, this message arrived:

Hey team, I thought we should meet for an annual face-to-face on December 6th. We could focus the meeting on how to be more client-centric. What do you think? Per

Our firm was a small consultancy with more work than we could handle and my colleagues, mainly energetic young Swedes, worked long hours to meet targets and keep our clients happy. I didn't feel I had much of an opinion on Per's question, so my automatic response was to hit the delete button and get back to work. But in the following hours, my Swedish colleagues began sending their responses, adding suggestions and views on what to focus on. Occasionally Per would inject an email with a few comments. Slowly, they began to reach an agreement. I then got an individual email:

Hi Erin, I haven't heard from you, what do you think? Per

I really wanted to respond by saying, "I have absolutely no opinion; please make a decision so we can get back to work." But remembering how delighted I felt when Per had told me that he favoured consensual decision-making, I simply replied that I supported whatever the group decided.

As the weeks went on, many other topics got the same treatment, and I realized my first impression of this style of working was not at all how I liked to work. I now understood why Per felt he had to explain this consensual approach to me. He later described how it feels to be Swedish working with Americans, who are "too busy to be good team members" and "always trying to impose a decision for decision's sake without soliciting feedback".

As with all cultural characteristics, these different decision-making styles have historical roots. American pioneers, many of whom had fled the formal hierarchical structures of their homelands, putemphasizeeed and individualism. The successful pioneers were those who arrived first and worked hard, regarding mistakes as an inevitable side-effect of speed. Americans, therefore, naturally developed a dislike for too much discussion, preferring to make decisions quickly.

In a culture like that of the United States, the decision-making responsibility is invested largely in an individual. Decisions tend to be made quickly, early in the process, by one person. But each decision is also flexible—a decision, as I put it, with lowercase. As more discussions occur, new information arises, or differing opinions surface and decisions may be easily revisited or altered. So plans are subject to continual revision—which means that implementation can take quite a long time.

In a consensual culture, it is the decision-making that may take a long time, since everyone is consulted. But once the decision is made, the implementation is rapid, since everyone is on board. And once the decision is made, it is fixed. Once the group makes a choice, the decision is unlikely to change. A decision with a capital D, one might say. A good example of this phenomenon is the Japanese ringi decision-making process, a very consensual decision-making protocol.

Jack Sheldon, a British executive who attended a seminar that I ran for Astellas, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, shared stories about his mishaps while trying to work with Tokyo-based managers. Following a problem with a particular product, a decision had to be made regarding whether to discontinue its development. Sheldon was invited to Tokyo to give his view, which was strongly that testing should continue.

"One of the Japanese managers gave an opening presentation, and during his speech, he presented an argument followed by conclusions for why the testing should stop. I sensed that the others were in agreement with his comments. In fact, it seemed that the decision had already been finalized within the group. I presented my slides still feeling that my point of view would win out. But although people were still very polite, it was clear that the Japanese managers were 100 percent aligned against continued testing. I gave all of my arguments and presented all of the facts, but the group wouldn't budge."

What Sheldon hadn't understood was that before Japanese company members sign off on a proposal, consensus building starts with informal, face-to-face discussions. This process of informally making a proposal, getting input, and solidifying support is called nemawashi. Literally meaning "root-binding", nemawashi is a gardening term that refers to the process of preparing the roots of a plant or tree for transplanting, which protects them from damage. Similarly, nemawashi protects a Japanese organization from damage caused by disagreement or lack of commitment and follow-through. At Astellas, the ringi process is even managed by a dedicated software program.

Both consensual and unilateral styles of decision-making can be effective, but members of a global team generally have expectations about decision-making based on their own cultural norms. This can make clashes difficult to understand and manage. If you find yourself working with a team more familiar with consensual decision-making, try applying the following strategies:

• Expect the decision-making process to take longer and involve more meetings and correspondence
• Be patient, even when opinions diverge
• Check in with your counterparts regularly to show your commitment
• Cultivate informal contacts within the team to monitor the progress of decision-making
• Resist the temptation to push for a quick decision

On the other hand, if you are working with a group of people who favour a more individualist approach to decision-making, these techniques might be useful:

• Expect decisions to be made by one person (often the boss) with less discussion
• Be ready to follow a decision that does not include your input
• If you are in charge, solicit input but strive to make decisions quickly
• When the group is divided, suggest a vote
• Remain flexible; decisions are rarely set in stone

If your team includes members from both a consensual and unilateral decision-making culture, problems could be avoided by explicitly discussing and agreeing upon a decision-making method during the early stages of collaboration. Consider defining the parameters of the ultimate decision: whether it should be by vote or by the boss; whether 100 percent agreement is needed; and how open the group will be to later changes. The more those on both sides of the cultural divide talk to each other, the more natural it becomes to adjust to one another.

• Please refer to the structure and general information on writing short assignments (next page).
• For this short assignment, please use not less words but no more than words.
• Please use the APA citation style
• Please include at least 3 references
• The 4 th SA is due on 27 October 2022 , before class.

Details: Short Assi

General comments: Short Assignment

• Use of own words to express individual's thoughts!
• Use of professional language, including management methods, information and vocabulary from the textbook and other class material
• The text should be reader-friendly, concise, and have the reader/reviewer in mind
• Adhere to the given length of the short assignment or case analysis: either in # of words or # of pages
• Check the text - is the task done, and are all questions answered?
• Proofread the text before submitting (i.e. spell & grammar check)
• Label and title tables and figures
• Correct use of in-text citations and references (APA reference style)

Answer & Explanation

3. Talk to your boss about Doug and agree on a joint strategy for dealing with his poor performance.

 As a team leader, you must be aware of all aspects of your team, including their performance, concerns, and work to be completed. Given his ability and disability, you must exercise caution in approaching and addressing this issue. It is preferable to discuss the issue with your boss and try to figure out how to approach it; certain legalities must be followed in this type of case.

4. Talk to Liu and ask him why he seems so upset with his workers.

It is also your responsibility to keep track of how your project is progressing. Liu's attitude must be addressed. Talking to him may reveal the source of his attitude and allow you to coach him on how to change it. It is preferable to lead with respect rather than fear.

3. Take Igor out to lunch and offer him better price incentives but don't mention the skiing holiday

Talk to Igor about the opportunity you're providing for him to earn more money than he's been earning. This will enable him to pay for any leisure activities he desires for himself and his family. It will also encourage him to work harder. It is unnecessary to discuss the skiing incident because it is merely hearsay. It can only be discussed if Igor brings it up and asks for your opinion.

1. Inform Helga of the approach you have had from Ahmed?

You must notify Helga of the exclusive deal. And it was up to Helga to decide what business path she wanted for the company.

2. Talk to Martine yourself and explain that she needs to separate her private and professional life in future.

Talking to her can help to define the line between work and personal matters. You could offer to coach her on how to do so professionally. In this way, you managed to push empathy and professionalism into your work.

1. typical consensus-building manager - This approach is not bad, but it has drawbacks. For example, leaders tend to hold back their opinions to avoid disunity, which diminishes their authority and ability to lead firmly. They also take less initiative when outcomes may not sit well with everyone, resulting in missed opportunities for improvement or success. This approach can be used for non-urgent company issues.

2. Swedish process - Every company has a unique culture. When applying for a job, it is critical to consider whether the company's culture matches your working attitude. It is critical to understand it in order to avoid culture shock, which may lead you to believe that something is wrong with the company.

3. "root-binding", nemawashi - applicable for establishing organizational development in order to get all company members on board with the new process to be established and to have the commitment of all

4. decision-making responsibility is invested largely in an individual - Individuals do not eliminate their responsibilities. They are held accountable for their actions and results. It is difficult to hold any one person accountable for a bad decision in a group. Individual decisions are more focused and rational than group decisions.

5. If you are in charge, solicit input but strive to make decisions quickly - When in charge, solicit input and carefully listen to opposing viewpoints, but make decisions quickly. Otherwise, you may be perceived as an indecisive or ineffective leader.

Approach to solving the question:

These are my key takeaways from the document you provided. Please feel free to change it to how your professor prefers it to be delivered.

Detailed explanation:

Key references:

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Assignment on Business Decision Making

Introduction

Business decision making is widely critical process which is find in each and every organisation. This is also known with its alternative name entrepreneur decision making. Decision making is the simple process of electing one action out of available different course of action. Whereas business decision making is a strategic decision which requires utmost care and diligence. This Assignment on Business Decision Making discusses the methods, techniques and tools which are used to process data and derive information which helps in the decision making process of a business. It is seen that business decisions in various fields are the key component in the overall success of an organisation. Mostly these decisions are NON-STRUCTURED in nature so that it is usually taken by top level management. Success and failure of and organisation in today’s competitive market are highly dependent upon the business decision making.

AC 1.1 Create a plan for the collection of primary and secondary data useful to conduct a research that may provide ways to improve sales in your chosen company?

Data is simply a raw material of information. In order to see the full information management has to collect data from different sources. It could be said secret ingredient of information lies within the data collected. Data analysis and design can be qualitative or quantitative and if it has relevance to the purpose then it becomes information (Olsen, 2012). The Marriott can create a short plan in order to collect the data that may provide ways to improve sales.

AC 1.2 Present, a survey methodology and sampling frame that will be most appropriate in your investigation?

• Survey methodology : it is the process of collecting primary and secondary data from the customers in context of their choice of actions and their preference. This is the best method through which genuine data could be collected from different context of people all over the world.
• Sample survey : The Marriot being in hospitality business can take the sample survey in order to decide the preference and expectation of potential consumers (Roepstorff, et. al., 2015).

AC 1.3 Design a questionnaire that you will use to collect primary data for the research

In order to make increment in sale Mariette has to make survey on large as it is easy to tell that collecting data from public at large is not an easy task therefor sample survey is a very useful technique.

Sample questionnaire:-

• Have you ever visited to a Marriott Hotel?
• Yes                                  

       2. What is the best thing you feel after availing hotel services which are offered to you?

• Hotel staff services        
• Ambience and culture
• Swimming pool
• Foods served

       3. Which of the following would you like to avail first if it is being offered to you at free of cost?

• Complementary premium drink
• Spa or head massage
• A game in golf court

 4. How will you rate our hotel as per the services you have availed in business?

       5. What are the core services you like most in our hotel?

• Food services
• Housekeeping services
• Luxurious services
• Accommodation services
• Pick and drop services

       6. Which type of Food do you prefer most in our hotel?

• Vegetarian Food
• Continental Food
• Non-vegetarian Food

       7. How often would you like to visit out hotel?

• Never(De Bruijne & Wijnant 2014)

       8. Which are the best things you see in our hotel?

• 2. Ambience
• 3. Services
• 4. Corporative behavior

       9. what is the most appropriate mean you use for booking room in our hotel?

• 1 Directly with the front house of the hotel
• 2 Through our hotel app
• 4 Tours and travel agency

       10. Where does u come to know about our hotel?

• 1. Travel advice portal
• 2. Online advertisement
• 3. from agent
• 4. Some other places

       11. What would be your feedback with our hotel services you availed in our hotel?

• 4. Not Satisfactory

       12. In which part of the hotel would you like to make changes in our hotel services?

• 1. Room services
• 2. Accommodation services
• 3. Tours and travel services
• 4. Bars and roof top pool services

       13. Where do you rank our hotel services provided to you in last visit?

       14. In which manner you would prefer us to connect with you?

• 1. Phone Call
• 4. via Social Network

Get assignment help from full time dedicated experts of Locus assignments.

Task 2- Part A: Calculations and graph production (evidence for AC 3.3)

Ac 2.1 creation of information using representative values.

The sales commission of 20 employees of ALF & Sons Ltd. in £ for the month of Decemberis as follows:

Calculation of mean

Mean = Average value of the data             = £1091.7

Calculation of Median

Median = Middle value of the data             = £1129.5

Calculation of Mode

Mode = the value from the data which is having the highest frequency             = Not Applicable

Since all the values of the data are discrete and none of them is being repeated, therefore mode cannot be calculated for the sales planning commission of employees. (Garcia, 2014)

AC 2.2 Analysis of results obtained in AC 2.1 for decision making

The data related to the sales commission of twenty employees of Alf & Sons Ltd for the month of December. The mean of the data so calculated comes out to be £1091.7. This means that the average commission payable to the employees by the company is £1091.7. The median of the data so calculated comes out to be £1129.5 which means that when the values of sales commission of the employees will be arranged in ascending order the most middle value will be £1129.5. On calculation of mode it was observed that figures of sales commission of all the twenty employees are different. No value is being repeated. Since mode represents the value of sales commission that has arrived maximum number of times therefore, mode could not be ascertained for the discrete data. (Merkova, 2013)

AC 2.3 Calculation of Standard Deviation and its usefulness

The profit figures and sales for the past ten years of Alf & Sons Ltd are as follows:

Standard Deviation:  It is measure of dispersion which is used to quantify the variation or dispersion of the data values or a range of data values. When standard deviation is low it means that the data is likely to be close to the mean of the data whereas when standard deviation is high it means that the data is far away from the mean. It is useful for the analysis of the data as it is capable to measure the exact value of dispersion in the same units as the units of data is. As a result of measurement of variation, the confidence in the statistical value calculation can be achieved. The standard deviation of sales figures of the company for past ten years is 53.30 and the standard deviation of profit figures of the company is 54. 07. The high standard deviation of the profits and sales of the company suggest that the mean is wider from the data.

AC 2.4 Calculate the quartiles, percentiles and correlation coefficient of profit and sales figures

Calculation of quartiles

Calculation of Percentiles

Calculation of Correlation Coefficient

Correlation coefficient 0.878495215

Usefulness of quartiles percentiles and correlation coefficient:  The quartiles, percentiles and correlation coefficient are the measures of dispersion which are used to measure the variation and dispersion of the statistical calculations and help the analyst to gain the confidence about the results of the calculations with quantification of likely variations. The quartiles and percentiles are used to evaluate the quantitative data whereas the correlation is used to evaluate the qualitative aspects of data and operational efficiency. (Francis, 2016)

AC 3.1 Production of graphs

The profit generated by the company Alf & Sons Ltd. by making of cars in the year 2015 is as follows:

It can be observed that the company has generated maximum profits from the sale of Mercedes Benz and BMW cars whereas the sale of Range Rover and Golf cars have resulted in minimum profits out of the five cars.

It can be observed that the sales and profits are fluctuating during the period of ten years but both the lines in the same direction suggest that the increase in sales has resulted in increase of profits correspondingly for all the ten years. Although the change in the figures is not at same rate since the correlation between the two values is not perfect although positive. (Forkman, 2012)

Scatter Chart

AC 3.2 Creation of trend line in scatter graph and obtaining linear equation of the line fitted on scatter graph to forecast profit for an estimated sale of £ 400,000.

The linear equation obtained from the scatter graph representing the figures of profit and sales of past ten years of the company is as follows:

Linear Equation y = 0.891x - 74.04

Where, y represents profits of the company and x represent sales. The forecast of profit of the company at estimated sales of £ 400,000 can be made with the help of this linear equation as follows:

Profit (y) = 0.891(400) – 74.4 y = 282

These states at for the sales of £ 400,000, the company will earn profits of £ 282,000. The increase in profit is 0.7% and the change in profit is 14%. (Muntean, 2010)

AC 3.3 Preparation of Business Presentation

AC 3.4 Formal Business Report

To The Management Alf & Sons Ltd. Date – 1 st July, 2016

Subject – To provide information assisting in analysis of data to support sales promotion.

This report is based on the calculations and analysis made from the data provided by the management about the sales commission of twenty employees of the company for the month of December, profit and sales figures for the past ten years and profit generated by the company by making of five cars in the year 2015. The calculations and analysis have been made using computer generated software’s and information processing tools.

The results of the calculations show that the average commission payable by the company to its employees skills is £1091.7. The standard deviation used as the measure of dispersion for the data related to profit and sales of company during past ten years is 54 and 53 respectively which shows that the statistical calculations from the data related to these figures is likely to be in variance with the mean. There is positive correlation between profit and sales with a correlation coefficient of 0.88. Out of the five cars made by the company in the year 2015, maximum profits were earned from the making of cars Mercedes Benz and BMW whereas minimum profits were earned from Golf and Range Rover cars. The linear equation obtained from the scatter graph of [profit and sales suggest that the forecasted profit at an estimated sales of £ 400,000 is £ 282,000 which is an increase of 0.7 % as compared to the increase of sales by 14% from last year.

Conclusion and recommendations

Thus it can be concluded that the company needs to focus on increase of sales of Mercedes Benz and BMW cars while planning its sales promotional activities. Although there is positive correlation between sales and profit but the efforts shall be made to make them perfectly correlated so that the increase in sales may result in increase of corresponding profit. The average commission is £1091.7 whereas the highest sales commission is £1230 paid by the company during the month of December. Therefore efforts shall be made to motivate the employees increase their sales commission through increase of sales of cars.

Regards Consultant

Task 4: Prepare a project plan

Ac 4.1 preparation of project plan using network diagram and determination of critical path..

The business plan of the company to Alf & Sons to launch a new car part includes the following series of activities:

The network diagram of the given series of activities is as follows:

The various paths of the project as contained in network diagram are as follows:

Critical Path

The path of the project which has the highest duration is known as the critical path regardless of whether it has a float or not. It is used to determine the minimum time possible for the completion of the project. It is used for the determination of project plan and its presentation in the form of diagram.

AC 4.2 Calculation of NPV and IRR. Reporting on the financial viability of project options and advising on which option to channel the investment.

The company Alf & sons Ltd has to options for its investment as part of launch of new car part. The company has obtained two quotes for the options viz. ABC system has initial cost of equipment and installation of £1 million and XYZ solutions Ltd having initial cost of equipment and installation of £1.5 million. The cost of capital of company is 5%. The projected cash flows of the two options from new production line are as follows:

• Net Present Value:  It refers to as the difference between present value of Cash inflows and present value of cash outflows for a project in which the present value ions discounted cash flow at the cost of capital which is the discounting rate for the project. The project having a positive NPV is considered as profitable whereas the project having negative NPV is considered as loss making project. It is a method or tool used to evaluate the financial efficiency of a project.
• Internal Rate of Return:  It is the rate of return at which the present value of cash inflows of a project is equal to the present value of cash flows other words this rate is the rate which makes the Net Present Value of a project equals to zero if the cash inflows and cash outflows are discounted at this rate to calculate the Net Present Value. Outflows of a project. It is used in capital budgeting decisions to evaluate the profitability of projects having investment potential. The return so calculated is based on the consideration of cash flows only and the environmental factors and other factors affecting the projects are ignored. It is also known as Economic Rate of Return (ERR) because of this reason. (Enrique, 2011)
• Financial viability of project:  The net present values of both the projects are positive which means that the projects are capable of generating the cash inflows higher than the cash outflows during the five years. The Internal Rate of Return for the project to be done by ABC systems is 25% and the internal rate of return of project of XYZ Solutions is 15%. Since the projects have higher internal rate of returns therefore both the projects have the potential for generating high returns for the new production line to be launched by the company. Thus, it can be concluded that the project is financially viable since the net present value under both the options is positive and the internal rate of return under both the options is higher than the cost of capital.
• Decision:  The higher the Net Present Value, the better is the project and similarly the option of project with higher Internal Rate of Return shall be selected. The net present value of ABC systems is higher than the net present value of XYZ Solutions by £203,080. Therefore on the basis of NPV method Option A is better. Similarly the Internal Rate of Return of Option A is higher than Option B by 10%; therefore Option A is better on the basis of internal Rate of Return. Thus the company Alf & sons is advised to undertake Option A which is quotations received from ABC Systems. Also the initial investment is less in Option A under which cost of equipment and installations quoted by ABC systems is £ 1.5 million. (Canco, 2014)

Get Complete Solution From Best Locus Assignment Experts.

Business strategy is concerned with long term decision. It is mostly taken by top level department. Usually these decisions are non-structured in nature. Business strategy is critical in nature and highly dependent upon the information collected from various concerned fields I have  studied all the information  given in this Assignment on Business Decision Making and this has helped me very much in order to come with the conclusion that business strategy is the key pillar in performance of organization’s activities.

Canco, I. 2014, "THE IMPACT OF THE DECISION-MAKING METHOD IN BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENTS", European Scientific Journal,  vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 37. De Bruijne, M. & Wijnant, A. 2014, "Improving Response Rates and Questionnaire Design for Mobile Web Surveys", Public Opinion Quarterly,  vol. 78, no. 4, pp. 951-962. Enrique Benjamín Franklin Fincowsky 2011, "Business making decisions",  Contabilidad y Negocios : Revista del Departamento Académico de Ciencias Administrativas,  vol. 6, no. 11, pp. 113-120. Forkmann, S., Wang, D., Henneberg, S.C., Naudé, P. & Sutcliffe, A. 2012, "Strategic decision making in business relationships: A dyadic agent-based simulation approach", Industrial Marketing Management,  vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 816. Francis, R.D., Murfey, G. & eBook Library (EBL) 2016, Global business ethics: responsible decision making in an international context,  Kogan Page Limited, London;Philadelphia; García-Peñalvo, F.J. & Conde, M.Á. 2014, "Using informal learning for business decision making and knowledge management",  Journal of Business Research,  vol. 67, no. 5, pp. 686-691. Merková, M., Drábek, J. & Jela?i?, D. 2013, "Application of Risk Analysis in Business Investment Decision-Making", Drvna industrija,  vol. 64, no. 4, pp. 313-322. MUNTEAN, C. & MUNTEAN, M. 2010, "Multicriterial Methods used in Expert Systems for Business Decision Making",  Informatica Economica Journal,  vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 199-205. Olsen, W. 2012;2011;,  Data collection: key debates and methods in social research,  SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

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Introducing the automated task assignment decision engine, as a hospital leader, you make decisions all day, every day that affect the operations of your facility. some decisions take time and attention to make, while other decisions—like determining which employee to assign to a one-off task—are much easier, even routine. .

But while the rou­tine deci­sions might be eas­i­er to make, they also tend to fill up your time, inter­rupt­ing you through­out the day and pulling atten­tion from more com­plex deci­sions and projects.

Research shows that mak­ing too many deci­sions in a day can lead to deci­sion fatigue : what the Amer­i­can Med­ical Asso­ci­a­tion defines as “a state of men­tal over­load that can impede a person’s abil­i­ty to make deci­sions.” One of their rec­om­men­da­tions for over­com­ing deci­sion fatigue: stream­lin­ing your choic­es, by automat­ing what­ev­er deci­sions you can.

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A task may come in as a result of a cus­tomer tex­ting or scan­ning the QR code from a ser­vice request sign .

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Here’s how the Decision Engine Rules Work:

Tasks are auto­mat­i­cal­ly assigned using the pri­or­i­ty lev­els that you set up for a Room Type and/or  Ser­vice Request­ed. Each lev­el rep­re­sents the type of per­son­nel that should be assigned to the task, e.g. “Assigned Super­vi­sor,” or “Cov­er­age Area Employ­ee.” Lev­el 1 is your first choice– the per­son­nel type that is most appro­pri­ate for the type of task you are assign­ing. From there, if a Lev­el 1 employ­ee is not avail­able, you can assign back-up staff in Lev­el 2. If no one from Lev­el 2 is avail­able, then the sys­tem will move on to Lev­el 3.

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